Samsung in Talks to Invest in French AI Startup Mistral for Up to Nearly $1.1 Billion
Samsung Electronics is reportedly negotiating a €1 billion investment in Mistral AI, potentially valuing the French startup at €20 billion. This strategic move aims to deepen their partnership, granting Samsung a critical AI model partner while securing long-term demand for its HBM and logic chips. Amid concerns regarding European AI dependency on US firms, this deal reinforces technological autonomy. Although Samsung's shares have declined over 24% in the past month due to broader memory sector pressures, this investment could pivot its role from a hardware provider to a core node in the global AI infrastructure.
TradingKey - On July 21 Eastern Time, the Financial Times reported that Samsung Electronics is in talks with French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI over a new round of funding, planning to invest approximately 1 billion euros (equivalent to about $1.09 billion). This funding round could push Mistral AI's valuation to 20 billion euros (about $21.8 billion).
Samsung has previously invested in Mistral AI through its venture capital arm, and this increased commitment will further strengthen the partnership between the two. Samsung Electronics closed up 0.58% in the Seoul market today, but has cumulatively fallen by over 24% in the past month. The memory chip sector as a whole is under pressure as market concerns over the return on AI investments persist.
[Source: TradingView]
What Kind of Company Is Mistral AI?
Mistral AI is currently one of Europe's highest-valued AI startups. Headquartered in Paris, France, and founded in 2023, it has been dubbed "Europe's OpenAI" by French media. It focuses on developing open-source large language models, emphasizing technological autonomy and data security.
Mistral AI has followed an open-source path since its inception, allowing customers to download and deploy models themselves without third-party restrictions. After the Trump administration last month banned foreign users from accessing Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models, European companies began to reassess the risk of "handing over their AI lifelines to U.S. companies." A European tech investor told the Financial Times that if a U.S. company can unilaterally cut off your model access, European enterprises must re-evaluate whether such dependency is sustainable in the long term.
Why Samsung Is Investing in Mistral AI
Against the backdrop of AI computing power demand far outstripping supply, major AI model developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic are scrambling for chip capacity globally. Samsung is one of the few manufacturers worldwide capable of mass-producing HBM and advanced logic chips. Injecting capital into Mistral AI is equivalent to Samsung securing a long-term client on the AI model side; while for Mistral AI, Samsung's appeal goes beyond the 1 billion euros, and more importantly, lies in the chip supply channel.
If the negotiations between Samsung and Mistral AI are finalized, the market may reassess Samsung's position in the AI ecosystem; it is not just selling chips, but is also moving closer to the core node of AI infrastructure.
Samsung has not yet commented on the details of the transaction, and people familiar with the matter said negotiations are still ongoing and have not been finalized. For the deal to go through, it must still clear EU antitrust review. If the transaction is completed, Samsung is expected to secure a board seat at Mistral AI, and may also pre-load Mistral AI models in some of its AI chip products, further strengthening the technological tie-up between the two parties. Whether Samsung's stock price can use this opportunity to rebound from its bottom depends on how the market prices this 'strategic investment.'
This content was translated using AI and reviewed for clarity. It is for informational purposes only.
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